The Super Bowl is coming up! I’d be lying you to if I said I was really into football (and we don’t lie to each other on this blog) but I AM super pumped for all of the food that I’ll get to munch on during the game. This year, I don’t think there will be a snackadium involved, but I’m ok with just eating this dip.

I’d really just like to face-plant into this french onion dip. Over and over again. There’s something wonderful about caramelized onions, and it makes me want to find caramelized onion scented candles so I can continuously smell the aroma.

Making caramelized onions also lets me practice patience. The longer you wait, the more delicious they will taste. And it’s worth it! This french onion dip (adapted from Iowa Girl Eats) is made with Greek yogurt and cream cheese, instead of mayonnaise and sour cream, which I think adds a fantastic touch. It makes a big bowl and although you can eat it right away, I recommend chilling it for a few hours in the fridge. Again, that patience thing.

You can make it the night before and it will be a fantastic addition to your Super Bowl party…or on any ol’ day, really. It’s also great served with veggies!

Bring to a boil and then lower the temperature down to medium/medium-low heat.

Continue to cook onions until they are brown and caramelized...about 45-60 minute total, stirring every few minutes. If the onions are burning, turn the heat down a bit. The onions will start to turn a caramel color and then a deep amber--this is when you know they are done.

Add the Worcestershire, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and then cook for about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and place onions on a plate or in a bowl to cool.

When the onions are cooled, mix the room temp cream cheese (i softened it in the microwave), Greek yogurt, dried thyme, and additional salt/pepper together in a medium sized bowl.

Then add the onions to the cream cheese/Greek yogurt mixture and incorporate until everything is mixed together.

Top off with a little extra dried thyme for garnish, and then serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

I was excited to get the opportunity to work with Kraft and create a recipe using their cheeses. I’m always overly eager to consume any and all types of cheese so this project was perfect.

I decided to make this tart because I love the combination of flavors and texture. It’s creamy, sweet, and slightly salty with a flaky crust. The trick to this dish is to get your onions fully caramelized and then to add tons of cheese! It makes a great appetizer for a party, a delicious snack, or a fun addition to a weeknight dinner. All you need is a sheet of puff pastry, some olive oil, red pepper flakes, a sheet of puff pastry, onions (plus some butter), arugula, and 3 types of cheese: mozzarella, goat, and parmesan.

I recommend making this recipe in 2 parts: 1) Caramelize the onions the night before and then 2) Assemble and bake the tart the next day. It takes about an hour to get your onions caramelized, which seems like a long time but it’s well worth it. Once you achieve that deep, sweet taste, you know you’ve got yourself some perfectly caramelized onions. This is probably the longest part. Also, I only ended up using about 3/4 of the caramelized onions on the tart so I got to save some to use in other dishes! Score.

The rest is easy. You simply roll out the dough, add the toppings and then bake away.

Once the tart is fully baked, top everything off with some arugula. Now, I LOVE arugula and it pairs sooo well with this tart but you don’t need it. The tart is delicious on its own so if you’re not a fan of that particular green leaf, leave it out. No harm, no foul.

But since I’m a big fan of arugula, I added a ton :) What’s also wonderful about this recipe is that it can be easily doubled or tripled for big parties. You already have extra cheese, puff pastry packs come with at least two sheets, and you can just pick up a few more onions. Voila!

Three Cheese Caramelized Onion Tart with Arugula Recipe

2 Medium yellow onions, sliced thinly

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 Cup water

Salt

1 Puff pastry sheet, thawed

1 Teaspoon olive oil – drizzle then brush

1/8 Teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to your liking)

1/2 Cup Kraft mozzarella cheese

1/4 Cup Kraft parmesan cheese

1/4 Cup goat cheese

Arugula

To caramelize the onions

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat.

Add the sliced onions and stir until the onions are all coated evenly with the butter and softened, about 5 minutes.

Then continue to let the onions cook for another 40-50 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. You don’t want to stir them too much or else they won’t brown properly–just enough so that they don’t burn and stick to the pan. Depending on how hot your stove is you also might have to turn down the heat.

Once the onions start turning a deeper brown and are almost done (about 50-55 minutes), add about 1/4 cup water to deglaze the pan and then cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Remove from heat and salt the onions to taste.

To assemble the tart

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Lightly flour a surface and roll out the puff pastry until it is about 13×10 inches.

Fold in each side about 1 inch to form a crust and then place the puff pastry on the baking sheet.

Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the entire puff pastry (crust part too) and then brush it so that it spreads evenly. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

Spread an even layer of Kraft mozzarella cheese on main part of the tart. Then do the same with the goat cheese.

Add a solid layer of caramelized onions over the top of the cheeses (this was about 3/4 of the onions I ended up caramelizing) and then top the tart off with an even sprinkle of Kraft parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is cooked through and the edges are golden brown.

Let cool slightly and then top with arugula.

Cut into pieces and serve immediately.

From shopping for gifts to planning family dinners, it’s hard to keep up with all your holiday to-do’s. This year, Kraft is helping out with great weeknight meals and entertaining ideas to make the season a little bit easier. Plus, Kraft is offering up to $20 in coupons, redeemable exclusively at Target, to make food shopping easier and to help you have a happy holiday season.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! And I can’t wait. It’s my favorite holiday by far…you don’t have to stress about getting people gifts, friends and families get to spend quality time together, and then you just eat and eat and eat until you want to pass out and nap. Who could ask for more?

One of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes is stuffing. I guess it’s technically called dressing if you don’t cook it inside the turkey…but that sounds like salad dressing and it’s confusing, right? So let’s stick to calling it “stuffing” even though it’s baked in a casserole dish.

This stuffing is sourdough heaven. It has a slight apple tang, a hearty flavor from the sausage, and then a heavy drizzle of browned butter and fried sage.

Can we talk about combining browned butter and sage for a minute? It produces the most amazing aroma ever. If you’ve never tried this, do it…you won’t regret it.

This recipe will make enough to feed 8-10 people. You pack it down into a 9×13 inch casserole dish and then bake it until the top is nice and crispy. It’s also really easy to make! The hardest part is slicing the bread into 1 inch cubes (why don’t I have a sharper bread knife for this?!).

The apple/sausage/sage combo is a fantastic alternative to your traditional stuffing recipe. Plus, if you’re not cooking for a big group, leftovers tastes just as delicious when heated up the next day!

The Night before: Cut bread into 1 inch cubes the night before and leave in bowl to dry out.*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place bread cubes on a baking sheet (spread evenly) and bake for 5-10 mins to dry out the bread.

In a large skillet, melt 5 tbs of the butter over medium to medium-high heat. Add the chopped celery, onions, and apples and cook until the apples and celery are softened (about 10 mins).

In a very large bowl, combine the apple/celery/onion mixture, the bread cubes, and the sausage together.

Using the same pan that you cooked the celery in, melt the remaining 3 tbs butter over medium high heat. Add the minced sage.

Swirl the pan so that the butter doesn't burn but keep cooking it until you start to see brown bits and the butter is golden brown--you must watch this carefully as browned butter can turn into burnt butter quickly!

Drizzle the sage/brown butter combo over the stuffing and stir to incorporate.

Mix in the chicken broth a little at a time until the stuffing is nice and moist.

Add a generous sprinkle of salt and some pepper to taste.

Pour everything into a lightly buttered 9x13 casserole dish. Push down the mixture lightly to condense it a little bit.

Pop into the oven for 30-40 or until the stuffing is heated through and the top is crispy.

Notes

*If you don't have time to dry out the bread cube the night before, just toast the cubes a little longer in the oven.

I officially completed my first half marathon two Sundays ago! It was really hard and I am just starting to feel normal again but it was definitely worth it. The course for the U.S. Half is stunning. You run from Fort Mason in the Marina to the Golden Gate Bridge and then back, with a loop in the Presidio and one giant hill on the other side of the bridge (plus many other hills before that).

I ran the race with 3 of my friends and a few work friends. Another group of friends even came to cheer us on and they made me this sign below!

It was a complete surprise and I love that they used the blog haha. It was so awesome to see them standing at mile 12, right before the last big hill, and I’m so excited to cross the long 13.1 run off my list!!!

But let’s talk chicken. This past weekend, I roasted a chicken. Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up so I should be focused on turkey but roasting a chicken is essential! It’s so versatile and super affordable. Thomas Keller is an amazing chef, so when I saw his recipe, I knew I had to give it a try. And guys, I am talking about one of the most SIMPLE recipes I have ever read. As in 3 ingredients: A chicken, salt, and pepper. Fresh thyme is optional but encouraged.

Keller’s trick is to keep it minimal to prevent extra ingredients from causing excess steam which can result in soggy skin. He also suggests getting an organic, free-range chicken for a better overall flavor.

The most time consuming aspect of this recipe was letting the chicken sit on the counter so that it could get to room temperature. EASY PEASY. And then after about 50 minutes in the oven, you will have yourself a delicious whole roasted chicken with crunchy skin.

Also, there are two things you’ll need for this recipe: A roasting pan and some twine.

I didn’t have a roasting pan, so I sort of MacGyver-ed one. I placed an oven-safe cookie cooling rack in a baking pan. The middle of the cookie rack didn’t really have any support so I used a ball of aluminum foil to give it some support. Guys, if I can do it, you can do it! But if you already have a roasting pan, use that–it will be much easier! :)

So yes, let’s roast a chicken!

Wash your chicken carefully (or don’t–there is a huge debate about whether to or not) and then pat it (REALLY PAT IT) dry with paper towels. Let it sit on the counter for 45 minutes so that it can get to room temperature. Then give it another paper towel pat to make sure it’s as dry as possible.

Generously sprinkle the outside of the bird with salt (about a tablespoon!) and lightly with pepper. Top of with some freshly chopped thyme and then pop it in the oven.

Let it cook, and once it reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees F, you’re chicken is done!

ONE caveat. Your oven needs to be pretty clean for this or else the dripping from the bird (and any stuff in your oven) will start creating smoke since you’re cooking it at 450 degrees. Unfortunately, this happened to me but the chicken was so delicious that I can definitely justify the slightly smokey room after the bird was done. If you’re oven is a little dirty, I suggest lowering the temp a bit and cooking it for a little longer.

Rinse the chicken carefully (or don't--there is a huge debate on whether to do this or not) and pat it dry with paper towels.

Let it sit on the counter for about 45 minutes to bring the chicken to room temperature. This allows the chicken to cook evenly.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Dry the chicken once more with some paper towels and then add a good sprinkle of salt and some pepper into the cavity.

Truss the chicken (instructions linked above in the post).

Generously sprinkle the chicken with salt (about 1 tablespoon), some pepper, and thyme.

Put the chicken on a roasting rack and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. You can also tell if the chicken is ready if the juices run clear after you slice a big portion off of it.